• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

All lows?

#61
JRA said:
i've forgotten what it is i do when i 'always get things my way'.

better luck next time. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

It wasn't me playing. I had just went to the event with some friends. I was just commenting on the sound.

Everyone was commenting how poor the sound of the whole thing was. It was an expensive charity event in a large event center in our city, put on by a known local charity organization, and funded and supported by many large businesses in our area.

Plus I believe the band provided the sound system, and the engineer appeared to be involved with the band, and didn't seem to be a hired gun. Just sayin....
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: JRA
#62
:eek:For many years I waged war on the sound tech thinking they were a worthy opponent, but then I discovered I was just fighting myself.:rage:
To expect a sound tech to be at all interested in what your band sounds like when it isn't you who is paying them...:bored:
Playing cover gigs made me understand how little people care about the tone of a bass guitar.:rolleyes:
Most people don't even know what the thing is or what it's supposed to sound like.:rollno:
By the end, I was bringing a tube DI and PBasses with flats. :bassist:
It just always works.:thumbsup:
A long way from a Zon through an SVT.:cool:
My back...:hyper:

In all seriousness though, I check brightness through FOH by dead snapping the G string a couple of times,
taste is voicing it somewhere between a dark 'DOK', and a bright 'TIK'. Adjust with passive tone knob or treble on an active bass, not the amp. Not saying this is you, but most bassists think of the tone knob as an on/off kind of thing. The amp is there to amplify what is coming off the instrument, so I try to keep most of the control over the tone, at the instrument.

A lot of bassists get attached to where the knobs are set, or what they think 'their TONE' is, forgetting that bass tone interacts with the room in a variety of unpleasing ways depending on distance from its source.

The other thing is that the tech may be fighting something in the room sonically that isn't apparent (like their ears, damaged from years of playing a strat through a hiwatt). Everything further down this rabbit hole is speculation.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wasnex and Zbysek
#64
Thank you for the responses. I did not want this to be a bashing thread on the guy, although I was venting about his communication style a bit. However, from what most of you have said, his request is not normal. I have used my GK manual, as well as contacted their support for help with some less defined functions of the amp in the manual, to have a solution that will hopefully help. If he asks me to take out the “bad treble” again, I’ll ask him for a number and we can work around that. Hopefully this will work.

F8E26B9A-71BD-4332-86CF-783C6FB689FC.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sascha Erni and Zbysek
#65
lowphatbass said:
How big was your rig in comparison to the room? I’ve worked with engineers that are “overly concerned/obsessed” with keeping the power of the mix in their hands and really don’t want to hear your sound on stage whatsoever.
Also, maybe the channel he had you in had some type of pad/filter or was patched only to a particular part of the PA and he was ignorant/oblivious about it.
Click to expand...

I was using the Legacy more-or-less as a fancy DI box. No speaker. IEMs, monitor mix wasn’t the worst I have heard but the bass was just so overpowering.

Allan Allan said:
Did you happen to have new strings? Maybe he was trying to fight string zing?
Click to expand...

The strings are about 2 months old, played a few sweaty gigs with them. They aren’t terribly old but they’re broken in.
 
#66
You're in the right path with those notes. Remember to be kind and receptive to what the other guy says when discussing your tone.

You probably know everything below, but I'm going to say it anyway.

A lot of "tough guy/take no prisoners" advice on TalkBass comes from people who have never played outside of their bedroom, or quit playing decades ago.

Don't be a rude, the soundguy has the power to put delay on your bass and then go to the employee lounge while you die on stage. He's still getting $50 for the night if you're happy or not. And if you're rude to him the venue is not going to give a crap if you ever play there again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zbysek, dwade and 707GK
#67
Eddie LeBlanc said:
It wasn't me playing. I had just went to the event with some friends. I was just commenting on the sound. Everyone was commenting how poor the sound of the whole thing was. It was an expensive charity event in a large event center in our city, put on by a known local charity organization, and funded and supported by many large businesses in our area. Plus I believe the band provided the sound system, and the engineer appeared to be involved with the band, and didn't seem to be a hired gun. Just sayin....
Click to expand...
thank you for the clarification --- i thought this was another whining thread. my apologies to you. ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Eddie LeBlanc
#72
I play through a GK 800RB and a 2x15 cab. My eq settings are almost all around 1:00. My bass is a Ibanez RB690. I love new strings, Daddario NYXLs. Most sound guys that see me roll that in get nervous. Then we sound check, and they come up look at my eq and say they get it and how nice it is to hear the individual notes and how they love my tone. I think the sound guy you got was an anomaly. I didn't spend all this time learning these bass lines to not have all of the notes heard - lol
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back